ORDER IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE 



ORDER is an outstanding characteristic of the man of 

 wisdom.^ He is a man who has discovered and observed 

 the due order in his reasoning processes. He has im- 

 posed a rational order over the acts of his will and emotions. 

 And he stands in wonderment at the great order of all nature, 

 an order that he himself has not made, but only contemplates.^ 

 It is the discovery of order — of logos — in the world that impels 

 him to set up a science of nature by which he will understand 

 the intelligible necessities and manifold beauties of the uni- 

 verse that is his home. 



As a man of wisdom the philosopher of nature seeks not 

 only the order inherent in reality itself, but also an order for 

 investigating that reality.^ For he realizes that not only the 

 exigencies of the real order, but also those of the order of his 

 mind will rule the development of his science. When the 

 natural philosopher is a teacher as well as a searcher for 

 wisdom, he knows that his exposition will have to be modified 

 by another order, that required to direct the minds of his 

 students to the comprehension of the truths amassed by a 

 long tradition of devoted masters. 



No arbitrary plan of investigation nor casual order of treat- 

 ment will do justice to the science of nature. There must be a 

 definite order that will be the result of the interplay of several 

 factors on the science — factors whose demands are essential. 



^ St. Thomas Aquinas, In Mctaphysicarn Aristotelis Commenfaria (ed. Cathala) 

 Proemium; In Decern Libros Etkicorum Aristotelis ad Nichomachum Expositio 

 (ed. Pirotta), I, 1, n. 1-2; Summa Theologiae, I, 1, 6; I-II, 102, 1; Summa Contra 

 Gentes, I, 1; II, 24. 



^ Cf. St. Thomas, In De Physico Atiditu Aristotelis (ed. Leonina) , VIII, 3, n. 3; 

 SuTTi. cont. Gent., II, 24. 



* " Processus scientiarum est opus rationis, cujus proprium est ordinare; unde in 

 omni opere rationis ordo aliquis invenitur, secundum quern proceditur ab uno in 

 jiliud " (St. Thomas, In I De Cado et Mundo [ed. Leonina] Proem., n. 1). 



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